WFLC's Comments on the Proposed Forest Practices Habitat Conservation Plan
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In May 2005, WFLC submitted extensive comments to NOAA Fisheries and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service on behalf of a number of conservation groups in response to Washington's proposed Forest Practices Habitat Conservation Plan. Go directly to the comments.
WFLC and the conservation groups felt it important to contribute to the record because we believe that the State's request to lock in--for the next fifty years--the experimental, high-risk forest practices rules proposed by the Plan violates the standards of Sections 7 and 10 of the Endangered Species Act.
The comments provided by leading scientists reaffirm our assertion that the forest practices rules prescribed by the Plan are not based on the best available science and are not designed to preserve and recover listed aquatic species. Furthermore, Washington’s forest practices adaptive management program is incomplete, unproven, not structurally-sound, and not fully-funded.
We believe that the proposed Plan is not based on best available science and will instead continue to degrade fish habitat and delay or postpone indefinitely the recovery of salmon, steelhead, bull trout, and other significant natural resources.
